


Inescapable

by janetcarter



Category: Babylon 5
Genre: Angst, Gen, Psi Corps, Telepathy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-28
Updated: 2020-09-28
Packaged: 2021-03-07 20:21:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 980
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26703616
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/janetcarter/pseuds/janetcarter
Summary: Talia is given a second chance, but there's a catch.
Relationships: Susan Ivanova/Talia Winters
Comments: 4
Kudos: 10
Collections: Hurt/Comfort Bingo - Round 11





	Inescapable

**Author's Note:**

> For the Hurt/Comfort Bingo prompt "Mind Swap" which I might've taken some liberties with.

Talia felt like she'd been sucked into a black hole. Given how she couldn't see or hear or… anything, really, who was to say that hadn't been the case?

The last thing she remembered was… what was it? Susan's face, a look of horror… Lyta. Lyta Alexander was there, a familiar presence brushing against her mind for a brief moment, until a zap set something loose. It stomped Talia out like a match between a boot and concrete.

"The Corps is Mother, the Corps is Father!" it shrieked in an assault of her own voice. 

And then darkness. 

That was when she tried to scream, but instead of hearing it she only felt it as a muffled vibration in her throat as the black hole spit her out into something solid but just as devoid. It felt like she was being squeezed within an ever-tightening net, steel ropes deforming her so that she might fit through the gaps.

Whatever puzzle she'd found herself in, she was an unwelcome piece.

_Shh, it's okay,_ a voice projected. It sounded like it could've been familiar once upon a time, but even though Talia recognized it, the synapses housing her did not.

Senses escaping her, she had no choice but to reply. _Who are you? Where am I? What…_

_I'm so sorry, Talia, if I'd known I would've found some other way._

_Told me what? What's going on?_

_It's me. It's Abby, Talia._

_Abby…_ It'd been years since they'd spoken, but it was no wonder her warmth was so familiar. Abby was scanning her the same way she'd done when Talia first came to the Academy, a scared little girl seeking comfort in an entirely new world. Abby had been that comfort, a tight hug around her sobbing form and a gentle telepathic swirl putting her panicked mind to rest. _Where are we?_

_We're at a facility. I can't say where, but…_

_When did I leave the station?_

_Oh, Talia… It's been months._

Talia's heart didn't drop like she expected it to, and the absence of such a sensation was worse than its presence would've been. It gave the storm of anxiety and confusion no outlet--worsened it, even--and left her craving a pulse she could no longer remember. _But… I was just…_

_The process takes time. They weren't sure if you were going to make it._

_What process, Abby?_ What the hell was going on?

_The Corps sent you to the station for a reason. A project that big required loyal eyes and ears._

Did they know she'd broken that loyalty? That she'd fallen in love with someone who hated everything the Corps stood for and that… she'd started to hate it too?

Did they know about Jason's gift?

_They… They made you into a sleeper agent, Talia._

_What? I… I don't understand._

_And when that blip Alexander sent the password, it brought the hidden personality out to the forefront._

_No! I would've known if… When did they--How…_

Everything had been a lie. Despite all she'd come to realize during her time on Babylon 5, there had been so much she hadn't known about, so much she still didn't know about, so much she never would. She thought she'd figured out a path beyond the Corps, as she felt stupid not have to realized, they owned the whole maze.

_According to your file, there was a period of time you spent on Mars… 2253, I believe? You participated in a drug trial. That's when they chipped you._

_Chipped?_

_It's why they sent you to Babylon 5. There was a chip in your brain, microscopic, undetectable by the technology of Mundanes. It connected you to the agent's consciousness. And when she was exposed, well… it landed you into her body._

_What's wrong with it? Why can't I move?_

_She was a Psi Cop, suffered an accident. Her body became paralyzed, but they still had a use for what was left of her mind. She was loyal, cunning…_

_So they… they put her in my head?_ If Talia had any physicality, she would've been sobbing by now. She also would've thrown up at least twice. That thing had been in her head for years and she'd had no idea. It was a violation. It was cruel. It was…

It was Psi Corps.

_Afraid so._

_And now I'm… stuck here. I'm stuck here. I'm… What are they going to do with me?_

_I wish I knew. No offense, but you don't seem like the kind of person they look for with these sorts of missions._

_So they… they're just going to let her walk around in my body? I-I'm never getting my life back?_

_I'm sorry, Talia. That's what they promised her for her service._

_Service? That's not fair, Abby. You know it isn't fair!_

_There's nothing I can do, Talia. I'm sorry. I… I have to go._

_Abby?_

_Abby!_

_ABBY!_

The warmth vanished and left Talia feeling an emptiness she'd never before thought possible. No matter how much she called out, pleas lost in the endless swirl of scattered time, no one answered. She was alone; mourning her life and what it should've been, becoming less and less capable of picturing Susan's smile, numbly waiting for her own spy to inform her captors of her disloyalty.

She was alone, and she would be for a very, very long time.

That is, until a voice finally provided her with the stimulation she clung to like a lost, scared child embracing the first person to show them kindness. In the beginning, she swore she'd never do what the spy had done to her. But now? As this savior told her there was an escape, a chance for freedom, a chance to _feel…_

She listened. It was all she _could_ do…

Until waking up in the head of someone named John Matheson gave her back control.


End file.
